Intellectual Property Law

You know all those warnings not to smoke in the airplane lavatory? Delta-owned Comair takes that very seriously. When a flight attendant caught a passenger lighting up on a November flight from New York to Savannah, Georgia, the pilot diverted to Raleigh to have the nicotine addict removed from the plane.

The passenger, Henry McDowell, Jr., had already drawn the ire of his fellow travelers by being loud and aggressive before the flight, according to an FBI affidavit (.pdf), and for grumbling that the "airplane sucks." So when the plane changed course, the other passengers blamed McDowell.  That's when things devolved into a flying cage match.

When the announcement was made to the passengers regarding the diversion, a passenger, here after referred to as P1, directed a comment to McDowell blaming him for the diversion. McDowell then began moving towards and screaming at another passenger, hereafter referred to as P2. When P1 informed McDowell he made the comment, McDowell redirected his attention to P1 and threatened to kill the passenger and his family.

The flight attendant attempted to intervene and was struck twice by McDowell, once in the head and once in the arm. McDowell later apologized to the flight attendant and reported he was trying to hit P1 . Additional passengers got involved to get McDowell under control and he was eventually seated near the front of the plane to separate him from P1, P2 and his girlfriend, hereafter referred to as P3.

McDowell was noted to be verbally abusive to P3. When P3's brother, hereafter referred to as P4, attempted to intervene, McDowell was observed shoving P4. McDowell was also observed by a passenger to have assaulted P3 during the flight.

McDowell's aggressive behavior and assaults upon the flight attendant and others, further validated the pilot's decision to divert the plane to the closest appropriate airport and deplane McDowell.

McDowell was charged this week with interfering with a flight crew. I'd have just let the guy smoke.

Image courtesy Manthropologist